Folding display stand



Nov. 15, 1955 P. s. HARWOOD ET AL 2,723,817

FOLDING DISPLAY STAND Filed Jan. 14, 1953 i la- INVENTOR.

PHILIP S. HARWOOD GEORGE GORDON RICHARDS ATTORN EY United States Patent Ofiice 2,723,817 Patented Nov. 15, 1955 FOLDING DISPLAY STAND Philip S. Harwood, Worcester, and George Gordon Richards, West Brookfield, Mass.

Application January 14, 1953, Serial No. 331,223

1 Claim. (Cl. 24834) This invention relates to a folding stand adapted to support and display a road sign or other similar sheet or card.

It is the general object of the invention to provide a simple and efficient folding stand which will be rigid and reliable when in use, and which may be readily folded to perfectly flat condition when not in use.

We also provide convenient means to support a swinging sign in said stand, and means to prevent the sign from swinging when so desired.

Our invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of our improved display stand;

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional side elevation, taken along the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the stand in open condition;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the stand partially folded;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a completely folded stand; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a spring nut or washer to be described.

Referring to the drawings, our improved stand comprises front legs 10 and 11, back legs 12 and 13, a top cross bar 15 and lower front and back cross bars 16 and 17. The front legs 10 and 11 and the top cross bar 15 may preferably be of unitary construction and formed from a single strip of sheet metal. The front and back legs are pivoted together at their upper ends at 14 and 14a.

The lower front cross bar 16 is preferably welded to the lower portions of the legs 10 and 11, and the lower back cross bar 17 is similarly secured to the back legs 12 and 13.

The legs 10 and 12 are connected by brace links 20 and 21 which are pivotally connected to each other at 22. The front end of the link 20 is pivoted at 24 to the front leg 10, and the back end of the link 21 is pivotally connected to the back leg 12 at 25.

The front leg 11 and back leg 13 are similarly connected by brace links 30 and 31, pivoted to each other at 32 and pivoted to the front and back legs at 34 and 35. The front brace links 20 and 30 are connected by a cross bar 37 and are preferably formed as a unit therewith.

It will be understood that the pivotal connections of the folding brace links to each other and to the front and back legs are all made sutficiently tight so that the parts will be held frictionally in any desired position.

of the back legs.

Hooks 40 are provided in the top cross bar 15 to pivotally support a sign S, which may be of sheet metal, heavy cardboard or any other suitable material. When thus supported, the sign S may swing freely or, if it is desired to prevent swinging, the sign may be swung forward and perforations 42 in the lower edge thereof may be slipped over studs 44 projecting rearward from the front lower cross bar 16 as shown in Fig. 2.

Suitable spring washers or other fastening devices 46 may he slipped over the rear ends of the studs 44 to hold the sign in place. A commercial type of available spring unit or washer is shown enlarged in Fig. 6.

It will be noted in Fig. 3 that the front legs 10 and 11 are substantially shorter than the back legs 12 and 13, so that the front legs are more nearly perpendicular when the device is in use. The effective lengths of the brace links 20, 21, 30 and 31 are all equal, and the distances of the pivots 24, 25, 34 and 35 from the pivots 14 and 14a are all equal.

Consequently, the free lower end portions 12a and 13a of the back legs 12 and 13 are substantially longer than the free lower end portions 10a and 11a of the shorter front legs 10 and 11.

As a result of this construction, the display stand may be conveniently folded as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, with the cross bar 37 swinging below the lower ends 10 and 11a of the front legs, and with the folding brace links completely covered by the lower ends 12a and 13a A perfectly flat folded stand is thus attainable, and with all movable parts and sharp corners fully covered and protected.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what we claim is:

A folding display stand comprising a pair of front and back legs at each side and with the legs in each pair pivotally connected together, one top and two lower cross bars holding said pairs in laterally spaced relation, said top cross bar connecting the inner legs only of said two pairs of legs and the lower cross bar which connects the outer legs of the two pairs being secured to said outer legs only at the edges which are outermost when the stand is opened and with the inner faces of said outer legs unobstructed, front and back linked folding brace bars of equal length frictionally pivoted to said legs and in pairs to each other, and a spacing cross bar connecting the free ends ofcorresponding links in said two pairs of folding brace bars and beyond their pivotal connection to each other, the pivotal connection of each pair of links being frictionally displaceable downward and the free end portions of said front legs below the pivotal connection of said front brace bar links thereto being shorter than the swinging radius of said spacing cross bar, whereby said stand is foldable to a fully flat condition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 351,990 Mansure Nov. 2, 1886 735,204 Buckenberger Aug. 4, 1903 956,399 Morse Apr. 26, 1910 987,113 Cooley Mar. 21, 1911 1,686,954 Brunhoff Oct. 9, 1928 1,704,199 Little Mar. 5, 1929 1,756,389 Schneider Apr. 29, 1930 2,376,063 Klick May 15, 1945 

